“She seems to have grown up into a nice girl.” Mom’s words are soft like she’s testing the waters, unsure if she’ll get backlash from me. We had some rough years in New York.
I blow out a breath. “Yeah, she’s sweet. Her mom’s been working nights.”
“That must be hard to leave your daughter at home alone.”
“Yeah.” I almost say that she’s not alone, but I don’t think many of our parents will be accepting of the relationship we have. Not like Harper’s mother seems to be.
“How’s school going?” Her voice is more steady like the coffee is helping.
I toss some bacon on a plate and stick it in the microwave. “Doing what I need to make good grades and get into a good college.”
“Did you get all your applications in?”
I turn and give her a smile. “Of course.”
My father had a list of colleges for me to apply to and with the guys, I added a few more. I’m going with them and with Harper. I don’t care that it’s early in the year. Mom would chastise me and say things might change.
But there’s one thing I’ve always been certain of. If I ever had a chance to grab onto Harper, I’d never let her go. This is my chance and I’m in one hundred percent.
I just need to rebuild my trust with the guys, so we’re going to hang out while Harper is at Jack’s house.
“I’m sure your dad would come home for dinner if you were going to be there.” She sounds so enthusiastic.
I finish the eggs and plate them with some bacon before turning to my mom. “He doesn’t care about me?—”
“Of course he does.” She smiles broadly. “You could bring Harper and we could all have dinner like a family.”
There’s no way I’m letting my dad near Harper. Not after what he said the other day. “That’s not going to happen.”
I set the plate in front of her and sit down with mine.
“I’m sure your father would come home if he knew your girlfriend would be at dinner.” She picks at her eggs.
I’m sure he would if he knew who my girlfriend was. “I can’t, Mom. We’re studying for a test and there’s a party this weekend. Maybe next weekend I can plan to be home and we can try to have dinner, but Harper usually only gets to spend time with her mother on the weekends.”
Mom nods, but her smile dims. I want to bring her back to life, but I can’t risk Harper.
“I’m planning on taking Harper to Homecoming in a couple weeks.” Pushing my eggs around the plate, I glance up at her hopeful blue eyes. “I’ll need a suit and there will be pictures.”
Her eyes light up. “I’ll find you the perfect tie to go with her dress. You’ll need to find out what color she’s wearing.”
I nod and she talks about flowers and cufflinks. At least she’s not talking about my dad anymore.
We need to figure out what our fathers had to do with Harper’s. And we need to figure it out before they close in on her.
Jack
I drop the equipment bag in Darius’s car trunk. The kids have all wandered off and we’re just helping with cleanup.
“Thanks again for helping.” Darius loads another bag in his trunk and smiles widely. “It might not seem like it, but you helped some kids today.”
I smirk. “I don’t think they liked the way I kept them running.”
“They’ll appreciate it long term.” He claps me on the shoulder.
I tense beneath his touch and step away. He clears his throat as he pulls his hand back.
“You guys good for next weekend?” His dark eyes meet mine. The first time I met him I couldn’t get over how dark his brown eyes were. We talked about shit that didn’t matter until it was only the two of us.
